Gift of Saber
by Demetrion
Summary: There are many stories about miracles that happen on Christmas. This is one of them.


**Gift of Saber**

A Fate/Christmas Night story

* * *

_**Beta-reader:**_ Jiu-Jitsu Dude

**_Cover art by:_** Gabecebro (gabecebro dot tumblr dot com)

* * *

It was the day before Christmas.

It was one of those rare sunny days when not just the weather, but the whole world itself seemed to be perfect: while the city of Fuyuki was a beehive of holiday activity, only fading echoes of it reached serene Ryudoji Temple floating in the blue skies. Crisp and refreshingly chill winter air was filled with the smell of snow, faint scents of various dishes being cooked in anticipation of a merry holiday in the city below and much stronger aromas of grain and… guano?

_Plop._

"I believe one of these disgusting creatures has defecated on me again, Saber!" A tall, slender man clad in gray and blue robes called out with equal measures of suppressed anger and exasperation in his voice. He did not, however, make any moves to shoo away a dozen or so of the birds currently residing on his extended arms and the top of his head.

"Pay it no heed, my friend! 'Tis but a minor inconvenience that you must endure!" A young blonde woman in an old-fashioned blue dress said as she appeared in the man's field of vision, carrying a large lid-covered bucket. "Do not forget about the goal that lies before us!"

The woman referred to as Saber put her bucket on the ground and turned to face him directly, hands on her hips. Despite being a good head taller than Saber, he couldn't help but feel suddenly dwarfed by the figure before him and swallowed a sarcastic retort that started forming on the tip of his tongue.

"Sasaki Kojirou! You've done well enduring this trial for almost half a day!" Saber's affirmation felt to the man like a hearty slap on the back, so much power it carried. "But it is far from over, so you must persevere!"

_Pat._

As if to accentuate her words, another bird decided to make the samurai a little luckier.

Kojirou took a deep breath trying to calm himself and scowled, instantly regretting it.

Saber either hadn't noticed or ignored his reaction and continued.

"Yes, perseverance is paramount, for it is the key for your improvement!" She nodded to herself with a satisfied "Hmph!"

"Your swordsmanship is sublime and you have proven yourself to be not just a great swordsman, but also a man of honor - as one would expect from the Legendary Samurai. In my eyes, this makes you worthy of being a Knight of Sword. However…" Saber raised her right hand, "you lack one important trait that we of Saber Class possess: high Endurance that allows us to stand tall even when facing an opponent ten times stronger than yourself! This is what allows us to continue fighting when all odds are against us!"

"I'm pretty sure you're talking about your plot armor." Kojirou muttered under his breath, but Saber was too caught up in her own rousing speech to hear his remark. That, or she just ignored him again. The samurai decided to believe in the former.

"Truly, this manifestation of our unyielding determination, this staying power is what makes the Saber class so powerful!" She finished with a bright encouraging smile.

"Yeah, you're definitely talking about your plot armor, Saber." Kojirou sighed.

"What was that?" Saber asked, but the man just indicated a shrug.

"Nothing, True Saber." He sighed again. "Tell me though, couldn't I perhaps improve my Endurance by running laps or holding buckets of water?"

"Of course not! What would be the point for a Heroic Spirit to perform exercises meant to strengthen a physical body?" Saber's logic was flawless.

"I can't argue with that, but having my "arch-nemesis" dumping all over me is… _infuriating_." Kojirou suppressed another sigh. "And besides, these are not even swallows. These are sparrows! And pigeons for crying out!"

But Saber just made a dismissive gesture.

"Maybe the swallows have just migrated for the winter? It is of no importance what kind of birds these are, the trial is. Will you allow some minor inconvenience to break your spirit? Will you give up just because something is slightly irritating?"

Complete silence fell after her words. Even the birds have ceased their rustling and appeared to be listening to her intently.

"It is unbearable to see a warrior such as yourself being reduced to a lowly Assassin with pathetic Stats, as if you were meant to be a mere expendable pawn in this game." Saber's eyes flashed with righteous indignation. "As if you are nothing more than a side character in the play, a stand-in even!"

Everything she said cut him deep because it was true. A mere Wraith with nothing but a somewhat decent swordsmanship behind his name - what role could've he hope for besides a side character that no one cares about?

He felt a wave of anger rising within him.

"Now I ask of you, Sasaki Kojirou: will you accept this hand dealt to you by fate?"

His answer came immediately, short and resolute:

"No."

Saber nodded and picked up the bucket from the ground.

"Then on my honor as a knight, I swear that I will help you ascend above this station forced on your by the circumstances of your Summon!"

"_I can't remember being this fired up since… well, never. This must be her Charisma at work. But do I care?" _The samurai mused. _"Not really, and besides…"_ a thought occurred and he felt a smile tugging at his lips, _"...maybe fate will be kind enough to one day let me meet _that hack_ again? It will be awfully nice to have something new up my sleeve for the occasion."_

He concentrated on his blade, propped against a tree across the courtyard, finding a solace in its familiar form.

"Let us carry on, Saber. I have agreed to give this ritual a try and I will see it through till the end."

Sparrows and pigeons occupying his arms and head chirped and coo'ed as if supporting his decision.

"Well said, my friend." Saber nodded and removed the lid from the bucket, revealing its contents: it was filled with grain. She proceeded to scoop up grain and feed it to the birds who, instead of swarming the food, waited patiently for their turn to be fed.

Such was the presence of the King of Knights.

* * *

A man in red coat watching them from a distance let out a sigh and shook his head in disbelief. Even after watching the two performing this ridiculous "ritual" for a few hours, he still could not believe that they were actually doing it.

When Saber asked his advice about a gift for the stoic samurai guarding the Temple, he felt a twinge of… annoyance at the fact that she was showing so much regard for the swordsman, however his pride didn't allow him to voice it, so he decided to get back at her with a little joke.

"What could possibly be a better gift for a warrior than an opportunity to improve?" he asked Saber rhetorically, playing on her own warrior's spirit. He suggested that she perform a ritual - a ritual that he'd just made up - in order to help Assassin become stronger. To do so, the samurai was supposed to "overcome" his arch-nemesis by enduring the presence of the birds that annoyed him so much in life for the whole day while standing on top of the Leyline that ran through the Ryudoji Temple, thus improving his Endurance.

Additional details of the "ritual," like what sort of grain was the best to use in order to lure the birds rolled off his tongue naturally, without him even thinking about it.

He knew that the straightforward and honest Saber would believe him and was looking forward to enjoying (from a safe distance, that is) the scene that would undoubtedly unfold when she proposed the ridiculous idea to a much shrewder Kojirou.

He really should've known better.

Maybe he underestimated the persuasion of Saber's Charisma. Maybe he overestimated Assassin's shrewdness. Probably both, because the samurai, while initially visibly skeptical about the offer, soon gave in under Saber's energetic advances and the two of them started the "ritual".

The man in red sighed again and refused to acknowledge a strange feeling of being left out.

* * *

The short winter day was coming to an end. The Temple had a few more minutes of daylight left thanks to its elevated position, but the birds surrounding Kojirou's figure started to depart, sensing rapidly approaching nightfall.

Many of them had a visible trouble taking off.

"Well, at least none of these pests have exploded. It seems like the advice about the grain was sound."The samurai watched the birds slowly flying away with all the grace of overloaded tankers and shook his head. "What disgusting, greedy creatures they are."

He then looked down at his stained robes and sighed, but before he had a chance to mourn his ruined clothing, a distinctive "clang!" of metal behind made him turn around.

"Congratulations, my friend! You have endured your trial like a true knight!"

Behind him was Saber, now fully armored and standing in a relaxed pose leaning on her sword.

"Tell me now: do you feel any changes in your Stats?"

That was a good question.

Kojirou concentrated on his inner self, trying to reach out to his Spirit Origin. Was this day of humiliation of any worth, or had he endured it for naught? Not for the first time he cursed his nature as a Wraith and its ambiguity.

He shook his head, diving out of his short trance.

"I'm not sure. I do feel like something has changed within me, but I can't fully grasp it…" He tried not to let the disappointment drip into his voice, but the knight standing before him raised her armored hand, cutting him short.

"It was foolish of me to ask you this. After all, we are warriors and not magicians skilled in this strange craft. How about we cross our swords to find out the answer?" Her smile was the second most beautiful thing that he has ever seen, and he found himself smiling back.

"You always know what to say to me, True Saber."

He crossed the courtyard to the tree and picked up his sword. Maybe it was because of the day he'd spent longing for it, but his katana felt lighter in his hands. He unsheathed the long blade and walked back to the awaiting Saber.

The first big snowflakes started falling from the sky.

When there was only a dozen of steps left separating them, Saber saluted him with her golden sword and made a "come at me!" gesture with her left hand, before assuming a defensive stance.

He chuckled at the playful taunt and shifted his balance, more than willing to oblige.

The light of the setting sun playing on the two raised blades was the most beautiful thing that samurai named Sasaki Kojirou has ever seen and he felt excitement filling his soul.

After a long moment of admiration, he dashed forward and the two blades have started their dance.

* * *

The man in the red coat watching the two of them had lost the count of how many times he'd sighed today. It was well after the nightfall already, but these two maniacs weren't showing any signs of slowing down.

"Are they _still_ going at it? By the goddess, this is absurd."

The man in red turned towards the voice and saw a blue-haired woman stepping out of the thin air.

"Indeed they are, Caster." He snorted. "You might want to instill better discipline into your guard dog. He doesn't seem to know when to stop playing."

"Caster'? What's with the sudden formality, _Archer?_" The woman let out a short purring laugh and tilted her head, looking at the two fighters.

"First they cut off a good half of magic supply to my workshop without asking for my permission, then they fool around for the whole day, and now apparently they're going to fool around the whole night as well." She sighed theatrically and turned to Archer. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I do need to instill better discipline in Kojirou. Even if I could've been bothered to use a Command Spell to stop him, he will sulk for at least a week, and I most certainly can't be bothered to deal with _that_."

* * *

"Splendid!" Saber called out, deflecting the katana's blade with her gauntlet before it could slice into her left shoulder.

"But apparently still not good enough to penetrate your defense, True Saber." Kojirou answered regretfully, but a satisfied grin dancing on his lips, contradicted sullen tone of his voice. He jumped back, avoiding a counter attack.

"There is no need to be so modest! You have almost knocked the sword out of my hands. Your strikes have definitely become stronger than what I was accustomed to." Saber raised her sword in an attack position. "But rest assured: I shall account for that and respond in kind!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, my friend." The samurai smiled sensing increasing emanation of magical energy coming from Saber, and tightened grip on his katana, preparing to deflect her attack.

* * *

"Well, I suppose it serves me right for summoning a Servant whose only defining trait is his obsession with swordplay." Caster rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "Honestly, I'm much more disappointed in Saber. Men never grow up and I'd never expect much self-restraint or reason from them, but seeing the same childish behaviour from a fellow woman - that is truly disconcerting." She shook her head. "It's a shame to see such beauty and elegance wasted on such a barbaric display."

Archer chuckled.

"So I take it you mean that Mister Kazuki is immature, unreasonable and lacks self-restraint as well?" He asked cocking his brow. "Now that's new: hearing you talking about your Master in su…" His quip was cut short by the unmistakable "you done goofed" sound of a Noble Phantasm being primed and he felt something sharp poking at his ribs.

"My Master is the most mature, noblest, and bestest of men, and if you disrespect him ever again I will stab you." The matter-of-fact tone of the threat made Archer gulp. He did _not _like the picture that his Mind's Eye was showing him. Not one bit.

"Point… taken, Medea." He answered through clenched teeth and cringed inwardly at the unintentional pun.

"Wonderful!" Medea replied, letting go of her Noble Phantasm and returned to her refined ladylike persona. Turning away from the still petrified man near her, she returned to watching the duel.

Murderous intent disappeared and Archer started breathing again.

"Regardless of my opinion on their behavior, I have to admit, I am impressed by these two. It seems like their stubborness has yielded some unexpected results." Medea was gracious enough to resume the conversation as if nothing happened.

"What do you mean? They're just sparring as usual." Archer grasped at the opportunity to pretend that he wasn't intimidated to near death by a woman almost twice as small as him just a few moments ago.

"Do they now? I don't know a thing about swordsmanship, but I had the misfortune of seeing these two wasting their time and energy on their duels quite a few times, and Saber always gained more and more advantage the longer their fight continued. Now, however, that is not the case."

"Well, maybe Assassin has just gotten used to her technique and is able to last longer? Or she's just going easy on him."Archer shrugged. "What's so unusual about it?"

"By the goddess, how slow can you be? Just look at their Saint Graphs already!"

Archer clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Not everyone was taught by Hecate, Medea. Some of us have to make do with Projection Magecraft."

Despite being delivered as a retort, his flattery had an effect and Medea smiled.

"The boy was right, you do know things." With a short spell and a flick of her wrist she summoned two slowly rotating images resembling Tarot cards. One card had an accurate portrait of Saber on its front and a golden statue of knight holding a sword painted on its back while the other…

Archer inhaled sharply.

"Impossible!"

Medea chuckled.

"Indeed. It is supposed to be impossible to alter a Spirit Origin of an already summoned Servant this drastically, but apparently these two were unaware of that."

* * *

With a resounding clang of metal, two blades clashed and locked in a stalemate.

Kojirou grinned. He wouldn't dream of going for such a move before because his blade would've been crushed even before Saber's superior Strength overpowered him. Now however…

"What's wrong? Having trouble pushing me back?" He taunted.

Saber glared at him.

"Indeed I am, loath as I am to admit it. That being said…" She smirked before delivering a brutal punch to the samurai's solar plexus, "...you still have to learn more about close quarters combat, my friend."

Kojirou coughed violently while stumbling backwards.

"I.. kha... will consider this to be a learning experience then."

He regained his balance and took a few deep breaths .

"Thank you for your lesson, Saber." With a flurry, he raised his katana.

Saber, who's been waiting for him to recover, nodded and fallen into a combat stance as well.

"Let us continue then, _Saber_."

Hearing her emphasise his newly changed Class was a music to Kojirou's ears, and he let out a short laughter before attacking her once again.

* * *

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Caster!" Archer growled, looking at the woman who was doubling from laughter after hearing his story. "I still can't believe what I'm seeing."

The card representing Sasaki Kojirou now had a Saber-class image on its back, albeit colored in silver. Letters floating around it told that the former Assassin now had a solid B- ranks in both Strength and Endurance, well in line with what Saber-class Servants usually have.

Meanwhile Medea was still unable to reign in her laughter.

"Unbelievable! A miracle worthy of a Grail… And all that… all that just because you were jealous?! Oh, this is too much! You… you are all such _idiots!_" She almost fell on her knees when a new burst of laughter overcame her.

Archer decided to refrain from sarcastic remarks this time around and just sighed.

Medea finally regained her composure and wiped tears from her eyes.

"I haven't laughed so much in quite a while. I must thank you."

She turned around and started walking away.

"Let's go back to the castle before they start the party without us. And Archer..." She added over her shoulder, "...let her have some fun. She'll return when she's done playing."

Archer pondered her parting words for a few seconds after Medea vanished and then sighed for the last time.

"She never looked this happy when she was sparring with me." He projected a short sword in his hand and frowned. "Then again, I never was much of a swordsman, not nearly enough to be of any challenge to her."

Archer shook his head and let go of the sword which disappeared even before hitting the ground.

"Ah, to hell with it! The old hag was right." He snorted. "I'm better head back as well and start throwing together something for when these two return. I bet they'll be famished after this work out - especially that glutton of a woman!"

He snorted again and left as well.

* * *

It was the night before Christmas.

Innocent and mirthful laughter of two children playing with deadly blades could've been heard coming from Ryudoji Temple.

**_Fin_**

* * *

**_A/N:_** And there you have it, my first Fate/Stay Night story! Thanks for reading.

The story was inspired by Christmas gift from JJD, the amazing art that is now being proudly displayed as the cover for this story.

My two favorite Sabers doing cute Saber things such as endurance training... pure joy! What? Sasaki Kojiro is an Assassin? Nonsense! He's the Other Saber. Yes, UBW Abridged series by Project Mouthwash team is responsible for that being my headcanon. Go check this abridgement out if you haven't seen it for some reason, it's pretty damn good.

A bit of trivia: I was listening to Gunyuu Shissou ("Dashing Rivals") track from DEEN's F/SN series and Emiya Theme (Epic of Remnant remix) from Fate/Grand Order while writing this.

And with that allow me to wish you happy holidays and bow out. And in case you're wandering what holidays I'm talking about on January, 5th, here's another bit of trivia: January, 7th is the Orthodox Christmas and January, 12th is the Old New Year. There is also Chineese New Year down the line, so keep that holiday spirit going. Padoru never dies!


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